At a recent meeting of the Enfield Council’s Public Transport Consultative Group the point was made that it would be possible for some of the funds that have been allocated to the Council’s Residents Priority Fund could be used for additional Countdown signs at bus stops.

These are electronic indicator boards which supply passengers who are waiting at the bus stop with information about how long they can expect to wait for buses on the each of the various bus routes that serve the particular bus stop.

The Countdown signs are usually affixed to the underside of the roof of the bus shelter that is adjacent to the bus stop.

Transport for London has undertaken to replace the 43 existing countdown signs in L.B. Enfield with newer improved signs. It has also decided that a further 25 bus stops in the Borough, which do not currently have Countdown, should be equipped with it.

However TfL is willing to fit Countdown signs to any bus stop in the Borough that has a shelter – but not at its own expense.  The cost of a Countdown sign is £5000 for the provision and installation of the equipment, including the telephone line, and a further £5000 to cover the cost of maintenance during the sign’s expected ten year life.

I would suggest that any FERAA-affiliated residents’ association which believes that a particular bus stop with a shelter in its area should be equipped with Countdown contacts me at roberttaylor1024@btinternet.com , or by phone on 020 8886 6428, in order to check if that particular bus stop is one of the 25 new sites that are already on TfL’s list.

(I have this list but it is not particularly user friendly nor is it in a format that is suitable for publication on this website).

The information that I would need in order to do this check is the name of the road on which the bus stop and shelter are located, the name of the road at the nearest junction and (most importantly) the number of both the bus stop and the shelter.

Once it has been established that a particular bus stop and shelter, that has been nominated by a residents’ association, is not already on TfL’s list it would be up to the local residents’ association to try to convince their ward councillors that the this would be a good way to spend £10k of the ward’s Residents Priority Fund monies.